Stage Space
The stage space at The Backdoor Theatre is small at compact. There is barely any distinction between the stage and the audience. The stage is really a found stage, but made into a black box stage. Because there's barely any space between the stage and the audience, the audience is more involved in the story. That also means there is no need for mics, making the action more personal.
Since there is nowhere to put props or stage pieces behind the stage area. This makes there only one option for scenery: set pieces that don't move. That's mostly because the stage really isn't a stage and the building really isn't a theatre. It's a found stage, probably the back room or such of the coffee shop, which was quite creative. However, during scene changes, every sound and movement is seen and heard. For me, that was really annoying and distracting.
For such a small stage, the actors didn't need mics. On top of that, they really didn't need to do much projection. Some actors talked a bit too loudly, especially the character Bernie. He was probably used to acting on a larger stage, but it doesn't give him much of an excuse. His voice was so loud, it was distracting from what he was actually saying.
Overall, I liked the fact that the stage was small. It made the story more real and kept the audience more involved.
Deanna Davis
9 comments:
Hey so I agree with your comment about the small space making it personal between the actors and the audience. It was pretty cool. I'm psyched to see big theatre performances though!
I am in agreement with you on the area of projection. In a space this intimate, one doesn't need to raise their voice much to get their point across. And like you said, "Bernie" seemed to push it a little too much, and in that small space, such a loud voice can tend to reverberate and make some ears hurt, i.e. mine.
The space did make it much more intimate. I do wish that there had been about an inhc of space more between seats, though, because I was getting so claustrophobic that I switched seats during the second act to the front row, and I thought the people moving pieces around and the actors were going to trip over my feet a couple times. And yes, some of the actors seriously need to tone it down.
The few set changes there were did end up being rather painful to sit through. you would think for such a small stage it wouldn't take very long to get a new cardboard box out. Apparently I was wrong...
i agree about the space being small and people were a little too excited when they spoke. I also thought they could have been a little more discreet in how they strike the equipment.
Nici says: the projection of bernie upset me. I really think his screaming could of gone down about 100 notches. I think that the stage space was more suitable for this play since it is still in writing process. the one thing that annoyed me the most besides the inter scene noise changes was probably the blacking out of the lights every time. it played with my eyes too much, and well lets just say I had a bit too much with the 100 black outs.
I also agree that the small spaces between the audience and action on stage created more of a sense of intimacy. We were able to feel more involved with the characters. Nancy Prohaska
Yeah I agree that the spaced worked for this play. It helped the audience recognize the characters a little better being that close to them. I thought at times it was a little distracting when the actors got really loud in such a small space. Like you said they are probably used to a bit more room.
The thing about Bernie was he didn't realize the power of silence and quiet. If he had been able to realize that and put it into practice, he would have been much better as the character.
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